Problem Which type of wood can hold the most weight?
Bass or Balsa Introduction People use wood every day. They use wood when they write down the answers to their test. They use wood when they play baseball with a wooden bat. They use trees to climb on for fun. I could sit here all day and think of things wood is used for. Wood is also used to make boats and floats. Which type of wood would be able to make your model boat the most buoyant? Background Info. People have lived near water for a long time. It would be natural for the to want something that can float on water. The first boats were dugout canoes, raft ties with vines, and eventually slightly more advanced boats like coracles. Boats like these continue to be made in the 20th century. These boats were used to travel on rivers, take cargo, transport people, and later to have war. Boats use sails that catch the winds and take them upstream. When going downstream they could just paddle. Hypothesis I think that balsa wood is going to be the most buoyant. I think this because balsa wood is very light and minutely dense. Materials 5 gallon bucket
Water
Wood Glue
Balsa wood
Bass wood
Variables Independent: Type of wood
Dependant: How much weight it will hold Procedure
*
Use wood glue to glue wood together to make a boat
*
Put water in a 5 gallon bucket until about 3 quarters full
*
Put one type of wooden boat in the water
*
If it doesn’t float record 0 grams
*
Add pennies to boat
*
When you put a penny in and it sink take pennies out and dry. Weight them and record the weight
*
Repeat process with boat 2 Results
Boat 1 Balsa wood
Weight of Boat - 36.14 grams
Weight Held - 143.71 grams Total Weight Displaced - 179.8 grams
Ratio of weight held to boat weight - 3.98
Boat 2 Basswood
Weight of Boat - 16.4 grams
Weight held - 133.44 grams Total Weight Displaced - 149.48 grams
Ratio of weight held to boat weight - 8.14 Conclusions I had an interesting result. The bass wood boat held much more weight, but the balsa wood had a better ratio. My results basically said that 1 gram of balsa wood could hold 8.14 grams of weight. The bass wood could hold 3.98 grams per gram of bass wood. So if you had two boats that were the same size made of balsa and bass the bass would win out. If you had two boats the same weight, then the balsa would win out. So I guess in a way my hypothesis was wrong. The bass boat did hold more weight when size was the matter. Possible causes of error Might not be built exactly the same Possible applications Next time I build a raft for like the Science Olympiad I might have some previous knowledge of what to do. Further Research Displacement is the thing that made my boats hold all that weight. It is basically what it sounds like. When i put the boat in the water it need to have room to be in there. It is displacing the water. One example is the if you a have a completely full tub of water and you put something in the tub, and 19 grams of water comes out of the tub then that object displaced 19 grams of water. I researched displacement because that is how boat float. The boat pushes the water down, and the opposing force keeps them from sinking to the bottom. Liquids try to spread out evenly in whatever shape they are given. If you put a liquid into a cup then the liquid will take the shape of the cup. When there is a boat in the water, the water is trying to be and even surface so it tries to push the boat out of the water to make an even surface. Acknowledgements KP Wood glue. Wood saws.
My mom for buying the materials. http://www.surfnetkids.com/buoyancy.htm http://science.howstuffworks.com/hot-air-balloon6.htm http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=aa14 Time spent Sept 4th 20 minutes
Sept 14th 45 minutes
Sept 15th 45 minutes
Sept 16th 45 minutes
Sept 17th 45 minutes
Sept 18th 45 minutes
Sept 28th 45 minutes
Oct 1st 45 minutes
Oct 14th 45 minutes
Jan 15th 45 minutes
Jan 28th 45 minutes Jan 30th 45 minutes
Feb 1st 45 minutes
Feb 8-10 45 min each
By: Zack Brashear
Problem
Which type of wood can hold the most weight?
Bass or Balsa
Introduction
People use wood every day. They use wood when they write down the answers to their test. They use wood when they play baseball with a wooden bat. They use trees to climb on for fun. I could sit here all day and think of things wood is used for. Wood is also used to make boats and floats. Which type of wood would be able to make your model boat the most buoyant?
Background Info.
People have lived near water for a long time. It would be natural for the to want something that can float on water. The first boats were dugout canoes, raft ties with vines, and eventually slightly more advanced boats like coracles. Boats like these continue to be made in the 20th century. These boats were used to travel on rivers, take cargo, transport people, and later to have war. Boats use sails that catch the winds and take them upstream. When going downstream they could just paddle.
Hypothesis
I think that balsa wood is going to be the most buoyant. I think this because balsa wood is very light and minutely dense.
Materials
5 gallon bucket
Water
Wood Glue
Balsa wood
Bass wood
Variables
Independent: Type of wood
Dependant: How much weight it will hold
Procedure
Results
Boat 1 Balsa wood
Weight of Boat - 36.14 gramsWeight Held - 143.71 grams
Total Weight Displaced - 179.8 grams
Ratio of weight held to boat weight - 3.98
Boat 2 Basswood
Weight of Boat - 16.4 gramsWeight held - 133.44 grams
Total Weight Displaced - 149.48 grams
Ratio of weight held to boat weight - 8.14
Conclusions
I had an interesting result. The bass wood boat held much more weight, but the balsa wood had a better ratio. My results basically said that 1 gram of balsa wood could hold 8.14 grams of weight. The bass wood could hold 3.98 grams per gram of bass wood. So if you had two boats that were the same size made of balsa and bass the bass would win out. If you had two boats the same weight, then the balsa would win out. So I guess in a way my hypothesis was wrong. The bass boat did hold more weight when size was the matter.
Possible causes of error
Might not be built exactly the same
Possible applications
Next time I build a raft for like the Science Olympiad I might have some previous knowledge of what to do.
Further Research
Displacement is the thing that made my boats hold all that weight. It is basically what it sounds like. When i put the boat in the water it need to have room to be in there. It is displacing the water. One example is the if you a have a completely full tub of water and you put something in the tub, and 19 grams of water comes out of the tub then that object displaced 19 grams of water. I researched displacement because that is how boat float. The boat pushes the water down, and the opposing force keeps them from sinking to the bottom. Liquids try to spread out evenly in whatever shape they are given. If you put a liquid into a cup then the liquid will take the shape of the cup. When there is a boat in the water, the water is trying to be and even surface so it tries to push the boat out of the water to make an even surface.
Acknowledgements
KP Wood glue. Wood saws.
My mom for buying the materials.
http://www.surfnetkids.com/buoyancy.htm
http://science.howstuffworks.com/hot-air-balloon6.htm
http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=aa14
Time spent
Sept 4th 20 minutes
Sept 14th 45 minutes
Sept 15th 45 minutes
Sept 16th 45 minutes
Sept 17th 45 minutes
Sept 18th 45 minutes
Sept 28th 45 minutes
Oct 1st 45 minutes
Oct 14th 45 minutes
Jan 15th 45 minutes
Jan 28th 45 minutes
Jan 30th 45 minutes
Feb 1st 45 minutes
Feb 8-10 45 min each